House Appropriators Zero-Out GSA Construction Funding for FY12

On June 23, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. The legislation provides annual funding for the Treasury Department, the Executive Office of the President, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, the Small Business Administration, the General Services Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and several other independent agencies. The bill includes a total of $19.9 billion in funding for the agencies, which is nearly $2 billion - or 9% - below last year’s level, and nearly $6 billion below the President’s fiscal year 2012 request. The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Building Fund has  borne the brunt of these cuts.  The bill eliminates funding for design and construction services and allocates only $280 million for repairs and alterations for FY 2012.  These reductions come on the heels of the recent FY 2011 budget deal that cut the agency’s budget by $1.7 billion. The Committee is expected to hold off on new construction of civilian Federal facilities because the Committee and the Administration are concerned there are many unneeded and underutilized civilian Federal buildings that need to be taken off the Federal inventory. In the meantime, the Committee has lent its support to the creation of a Civilian Property BRAC to address this issue. Both the Administration and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are considering proposals to create such a commission.  This process is expected to result in the creation of an inventory of federal structures designated for expanded use, reduced use, decommissioning, modification and sale. AGC has expressed concern to Senate Appropriations leaders about these drastic cuts and will work to ensure the Senate provides funding for these critical programs. For the text and report of the legislation by the Appropriations Committee, please visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/FY_2012_FS_Full_xml.pdf http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/FY_2012_FIN-SERVICES_FULL_COMMITTEE_REPORT.pdf For more information, contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.